Combined room warmer and clothes drier



I May 9, 1961 G. J. ALABACK COMBINED ROOM WARMER AND CLOTHES DRIER 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 1, 1957 Eran 1 422- G/enn James A/abac/r May 9, 1961 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 1, 1957 Eran 1 51- G/enn James A/abac/r 4M dmqzw W W )4 G. J. ALABACK COMBINED ROOM WARMER AND CLOTHES DRIER May 9, 1961 e SheetS-Sheet .s

Filed Nov. 1, 195'! Glen/2 :Tames A/ab'oc/r May 9, 1961 G. J. ALABACK COMBINED ROOM WARMER AND CLOTHES DRIER Filed Nov. 1, 1957 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 G/enn James .4/obac/r B %Zz;;5

May 9, 1961 G. J. ALABACK COMBINED ROOM WARMER AND CLOTHES DRIER 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 1, 1957 Eranfar G/enn :Jbmes A/abdck vwa May 9, 1961 G. J. ALABACK 2,983,050

COMBINED ROOM WARMER AND CLOTHES DRIER Filed Nov. 1, 1957 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Eranimr G/enn James A/dbOC/t COMBINED ROOM WARMER AND CLOTHES DRIER Glenn James Alaback, St. Joseph, Mich, assignor to Whirlpool Corporation, St. Joseph, Mich, a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 1, 1957, Ser. No. 694,018

6 Claims. (Cl. 3490) The present invention relates to improvements in drying mechanisms, and more specifically to an improved clothes drier such as the type which is, used in households, and is automatically controlled to dry fabrics and garments to remove the moisture after they have been washed.

Clothes driers of this type, by way of example, are generally constructed with a rotating cylindrical drier drum in which theclothes or garments are tumbled while the drum is rotated. Heated drying air is passed through the drum to evaporate the moisture from the clothes. The drying mechanism, which is automatically controlled in its cycles of operation, is enclosed within a housing cabinet which will usually be located in the household laundry room. The present invention contemplates improvements in the drying efliciency and eifectiveness, of a drier, and providing improvements which will enlarge the usefulness of the drier and increase the purposesfor which it may be used, and make it a more desirable appliance in the home. templates reducing the cost of operation of a drier, reducing the effort required by the houswife to operate the appliance, and decreasing the time which need be spent for operation.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved clothes drier of the automatic time cycle controlled domestic type.

Another object of the invention is to provide a clothes drier of the type described wherein the effectiveness and efiiciency of the drying air is increased.

A further object of the invention is to provide an automatic domestic clothes drier wherein the amount of clothes which can be dried is increased, and wherein the effectiveness of the circulating drying air is substantially increased to correspondingly increase the efficiency of the drier and reduce. the heatconsumption.

A further object of the invention is to provide a clothes drier wherein the operating efliciency and usefulness is improved by utilizing the heated air after it has passed through the drier drum.

A feature of the invention is the provision of a clothes drier wherein a plurality of drying zones are provided, arranged in tandem with the same drying air flowing successively through the drying zones.

Another feature of the invention is to provide an improved clothes drier with conduit means for circulating a stream of drying air through a drying chamber and With a by-pass provided which opens through the wall of a cabinet enclosing the drier, and wherein the flow of air through the by-pass is controllable so that a controlled portion of air may be directed to heat the laundry room.

Another feature of the invention is to provide a domestic type clothes drier with a drying rack for supporting garments exteriorly of the drier cabinet, and provided with a flow conduit for, directing a portion of the drying air as itleaves the drying. chamber within the drier through the garments supported on the rack.

The present invention further conice A further object of the invention is to provide animproved automatically controlled domestic typeclothes drier having the above features and provided with im- 7 proved air flow conduits and control mechanisms for ob- Figure l is a rear elevational view of a clothes drying I mechanism such as the type which may embody the principles of the present invention, the drier being shown with the cabinet removed for purposes of illustration;

Figure 2 is a side elevationalview of the drier of Figure 1 with the side of the, drier cabinet broken away for purposes of illustration; I

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the portion of the drier cabinet illustrating the appearance and location of the rack for supporting clothes in the second drying zone outside of the cabinet with a portion of the support being shown with broken lines to better illustrate the construction;

Figure 4 is a side elevational view shown, in exploded form, of the rack forrsupporting the clothes;

Figure 5 is a plan view of a portion of the top ofthe cabinet at the back of the machine with the instrument panel removed to show the construction and operation of the control for the by-pass air flow;

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view taken along line VIVI of Figure 5, andillustrating the flow path and control doors for the by-pass air flow; and, i Figure 7 is a vertical sectional view taken along line VII-VII of Figure 5, also illustrating the air flow path and doors with the operating mechanism for controlling ,is a support column 14 on which a rotatable drier drum 16 is supported. The drier drum is supported in the usual manner on a cantilever shaft 17 which is rotatably .journalled in a bearing 18 supported on the vertical column 14.

The drier drum 16 is driven in rotation from a motor ztlwhich is suitably mounted on the cabinet base 12;

The motor 20 has a drive shaft 22 carrying a drive pulley 24 over which is threaded a drive belt 26, with the pulley 24 and belt 26 preferably being of the V-type.

.The drive belt 26 passes over a large pulley 28 secured to an idler shaft 30, which also carries a small pulley 32 for the purposes of speed reduction to slowly rotate the drier drum. A drum drivingbelt 34. passes vover the small pulley 32, and over a pulley 36' which is secured to the drum supporting cantilever shaft 17. Thus, during operation of the motor, the drum is driven in rotation to tumblethe garments and clothes therein, and increase their exposure to air circulating in the drum for evaporating the moisture.

The drive belt 26 also. passes over a fan pulley 38..

The pulley is mounted on a fan shaft 40 which carries a fan 42 rotatably mounted within a fan housing 44. The belts 26 and 34 are maintained taut by a constant downward force on the idler shaft .30 exerted by a ten- 2,983,050] Patented. May 9, 19.61

sion spring 46 which is connected between the shaft and the base 12. The idler shaft 30 is supported on a sliding plate 49 which is slidably mounted on the column 14.

The fan 42 is located, in the present illustrated arrangement, to draw air through the drier. The drier drum 16 has an annular perforated area 47 in the rear wall of the drum with the edges of the perforated area being indicated at 48 and 50. The perforated area is positioned opposite the fan 42 to draw air out of the drum, and air is taken into the drum through an inlet opening located at 52 opposite the fan and positioned adjacent the perforated area 47. The inlet opening 52 and an opening 54 for the fan are formed in an imperforate bulkhead 56 supported within the cabinet at the rear of the drum 16.

The fan housing 44 is shaped to conduct the discharge air upwardly to discharge or exhaust it through an opening 58 which extends through the rear of the cabinet and leads from the fan housing 44.

The intake air for the drier is heated by flowing through an air heating chamber 60 located at the back of the cabinet. The air heating chamber 60 is open at the bottom for the intake of air, and the air will flow upwardly through the opening 52 into the drier drum 16. Within the chamber are heating means shown in the form of electrical resistance coils 62, supplied with electricity through leads 64. While an electrical heating means is shown, it will be understood that a gas burner or other form of heating means may be employed.

In accordance with the features of the present invention, a plurality of heating zones are arranged in tandem with the same drying air flowing through all of the zones. The second drying zone is formed outside of the cabinet 10. As shown in Figure 3, the zone is located in the area of a supporting drying rack 66, positioned opposite an air discharge opening 68 located in the control panel 70, as illustrated in Figure 6. As will be discussed in greater detail, the supporting rack 66 supports fabrics or garments 72 and is constructed to be moved out of the path of the air flow when the second drying location is not used. The air leaving the drier will first flow through the garments 72 and then continue into the room to heat the laundry room. If the rack 66 is not used, the air will flow directly into the room. Thus, the heat remaining in the air after it leaves the first zone of the drier drum will be utilized in a second zone for drying the additional clothes supported on the rack 66, and in a third zone for heating the room.

As illustrated in Figure 3, the control panel 70 is mounted at the top and at the rear of the cabinet 10. The cabinet has a body portion 74 and a top 76 with the top being pivotally supported to the body portion by a hinge construction 78. The control panel 70 is mounted at the top and rear of the top or cover 76.

The rack 66 for supporting the clothes is adjustably carried on a bracket 80 secured to the back of the control panel 70, and to the cabinet cover 76 by sheet metal screws 82 and 84. The bracket 80 has a central body portion 86 which lies substantially parallel to the back of the cabinet, and has outwardly projecting end portions 88 and 90. The projecting portions have holes extending therethrough to slidably receive a vertical rod 92 for the clothes rack. At the top of the vertical rod are a plurality of horizontal supporting rods or bars 94. The horizontal bars are pivotally supported on the vertical rod 92 in order that they may be spread for supporting individual pieces of fabric or garments 72.

As illustrated in detail in Figure 4, the body portion 86 of the bracket 80 is olfset slightly at its center in order to permit ends 96 of a positioning clip 98 to pass through slots 100 and 102 in the bracket and be crirnped therebehind. The positioning bracket 98 is formed with a pointed central protuberance 104 which enters one of the notches 106 or 108 in the vertical support rod 92 to support it in either its raised or lowered position.

The bracket is formed with a central opening 101 to permit flexure of the positioning clip 98 as the vertical rod is manually pushed up or down.

The vertical rod 92 may be also forced downwardly to a fully lowered position, and for this position the horizontal support bars 94 are pushed together and swung so as to be parallel with the back of the cabinet 10. The horizontal bars are shown in this folded retracted position at 94a, with the vertical rod being lowered in the dotted line position 92a.

In assembly of the clothes supporting rack, the bracket 80 is secured to the back of the cabinet, and the vertical rod is pushed downwardly through the central holes in the bent-out end portions 88 and in the bracket 80. The horizontal supporting bars are slipped over a threaded reduced end 111 of the vertical rod 92, and a nut 113 is threaded onto the end to a snugness permitting the horizontal bars to be shifted horizontally.

In accordance with the present invention, by-pass means are located in the conduit which carries the air being exhausted from the drier. These by-pass means are provided with controllable gates or doors so that the normal flow of exhaust air may be diverted into the laundry room past the drying rack. In the preferred embodiment disclosed, a portion of the air is diverted for this b'y-pass flow.

As illustrated in Figure 1, the air flows upwardly through the fan housing 44 and will subsequently flow out through the opening 58 at the back of the cabinet 10. In flowing through this path, the air first flows through the diversion or bypass mechanism, the general location of which is shown at 112 by the broken lines of Figure l, and in the solid line location in Figures 5, 6 and 7.

In Figures 6 and 7 an exhaust conduit 114 is shown in detail and this conduit leads from the fan housing 44 out through the exhaust opening 58 through the back of the drier cabinet. Normally, drier air discharge conduits will be attached to the back of the cabinet to exhaust the air through a vent or through a window from the building.

The air flowing out through the exhaust conduit 114 is filtered of lint and dust by a filter shell 116. The filter shell is provided with a handle 118 for manual removal and cleaning. The filter is held within a tubular shaped socket 12% opening from the cabinet top 76.

In the cabinet top is provided a door 122, which is hinged at its rear edge 123 in order that it may be moved to open position for removal and cleaning of the filter. When the door 122 is opened, the operator may grasp the handle 118 of the filter shell 116 to withdraw it and clean the lint therefrom. When it is cleaned, it is slid back into the socket where it will again be positioned to be in the flow path of air flowing through the exhaust conduit 114 and to intercept and remove the lint from the air.

The filter shell 116 is also positioned so that air flowing upwardly to enter a by-pass conduit 124 will flow through the filter shell. The by-pass conduit 124 leads upwardly to permit the by-pass or escape of a portion of air flowing rearwardly within the cabinet to the exhaust opening 53. Control of air flowing through the by-pass is obtained by swinging doors or gates 126 and 128. When the doors 126 and 128 are in the open position, which is in the dotted line position of Figure 6, by-pass air will flow upwardly into the hollow space of the control panel and outwardly through the opening 68 in the front of the control panel.

As illustrated in Figures 5, 6 and 7, the opening 68 is in front of the control panel 70, and at one side of the control panel. As illustrated in Figure 5, the area 130 of the panel will be devoted to control dials and the like, and these will be shielded by a bezel 132 which is carried on a support molding 134.

The opening 68, which is in front of the control panel 70 is closed by the movable door 128. The door is supported at its upper edge on a hinge bracket 136. The

spring 140. The torsion spring is positioned with one leg pushing against the top 142 of the control panel, and with the other leg pushing against the door to urge it toward closed position. The spring will urge the door closed and will aid in taking up the rattles of the mechanism.

The door is moved to its open position by the lower door 126 pushing against a pin 144 projecting from a bracket 146 atthe base of the upper door. Thus, when the lower door 126 is swung to open position, it will carry the upper door 128 also to open position, and the ends of the doors 128 and 126 are kept together so as to form asmooth flow path for the by-pass air, flowing upwardly for the by-pass conduit 124, and passing into the room through the opening 68. The upper end 148 of the lower door126is rounded so that when it is moved to closed position, the rounded end will press against the back ofthe upper door 123 to hold it in closed position, as shown in Figure 6.

As illustrated in Figures 5, 6 and 7, the doors 126 and 128 are controlled by a control rod *150, which has a knob .152 at its outer end. The knob 15?. is located outside of a panel 154 through which is formed the opening 68 for the air flow. The inner end of the control rod 150, behind the panel, is connected to an arm 156 connected to the upper end of a door controlshaft 158. The door control shaft 158 is rotatably supported in a bearing 160 carried within the control panel. At the lower end of the shaft 158 is another crank arm 162 carrying a crank pin .164 at its end, with the crank pin projecting through an opening in a bracket 166 secured to the back of the lower door 126.

Thus, as the control rod 150 is drawn outwardly by the operator, the crank 156 is rocked to rotate the shaft 158 and cause the crank 162 to pivot thedoors to the open position, which is the dotted line position of Figure 5. Thedoors will be held in this position by manually moving the control rod 150 to one side of its path of travel so that a shoulder 168 on the control rod can be lapped over outer surface of the panel 154.

To permit this action, and to aid in supporting the door control rod 150, a vertical supporting post 170 is located within the control panel and passes through a slot 172 in the door control rod 150. The post 170 is provided .with a shoulder member 174 and a cap screw 176 to support the rod 150 from below and above. When the rod 150 is pulled outwardly, the elongated slot 172 will permit the rod to move along the support post. The connection between the control rod 150 and the crank arm 156 is in the form of a pin 178 extending into a slot 180 in, the door control rod to permit the rod to be shifted laterally to lock the shoulder 168 over the edge of the panel 154.

- drum 16which is preferably open at the front for insertion and removal of the clothes. turned on, and will proceed through its cycle of operation automatically. As illustrated in Figure l, drying air-is drawn into the bottom of the air heating chamber The machine is then 60 to flow over the electrical coils 6-2 and enter the back of the drum through the opening 52. The air is drawn through the drum over the clothes and exits through the fan housing 44, being drawn through the drier by the fan 42.

For use of the drier and to increase the drying capacity thereof, the second drying zone in front of the control panel is used. The rack arrangement illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, is drawn upwardly to either the lower or. upper position, depending uponthe length of the articles 72 to be supported from the'horizontal bars 94 andthe. bars positioned as illustrated in Figure 3. v The control] shaft 150, shown in Figures 5 and 7, is then drawn out:

wardly by grasping the control knob 152 and is shifted laterally to lock the shoulder 168 against the front of the panel 154. Drawing control rod 150 outwardly will pivot the crank 156 to rotate the rod 158 and the crank 162 whereby the pin 164 projecting through the slot 165 in the bracket 166 will draw the lower and upper doors rearwardly to the open or dotted line position of Figure'6.

A by-pass flow of air is tapped from the main discharge conduit 114 to flow outwardly and upwardly" past-the clothes on the drying rack. The by-pass conduit 124 may be opened, if desired, without use of the drying rack so that the by-pass air will be used directly to heat the laundry room. By duct arrangement, the percentage of air by-passed may be varied and preferably an average of %-35% of the air passing through the discharge conduit 114 is by-passed into the room.

Thus, the drying air flows to drying zones in tandem whereby its drying and heating properties are more fully utilized for a conservation of heat energy and a conservation of the flow of air which must be used.

The air flowing through the by-pass conduit flows into the room to heat the laundry room, and flows through the drying zone provided by the rack. The stream of air flows past the articles on the rack, drawing in air from the room to mix thoroughly as it is being discharged.

Thus, it will be seen that I have provided an improved drying mechanism which meets the objectives and advantages hereinbefore set forth. The mechanism permits increased efliciency of operation, and greatly enhances the operability and usefulness of a domestic clothes drier, obtaining a saving in energy, and increasingthe usefulness of the drier to the housewife.

I have, in the drawings and specification, presented a detailed disclosure of the preferred embodiments of my invention, and it is to be understood that I do not intend to limit the invention to the specific form disclosed, but intend to cover all modifications, changes and alternative constructions and methods falling within the scope of the principles taught by my invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A clothes drier mechanism comprising a rotatable drier drum positioned to rotate about a horizontal axis whereby fabrics or the like may be tumbled therein for drying, air conduit means positioned to conduct a stream of drying air through said drier drum and to discharge the moisture laden air, means for increasing the temperature of said stream of drying air to increase its evaporative action, a cabinet housing for the drier drum and conduit means, said air conduit means exhausting said drying air beyond said cabinet, a by-pass conduit connected to said conduit means and opening out of the 1 cabinet into a room to direct a portion of the heated air adapted to support clothes to receive drying air from said bypass conduit, and support means for said rack connected to said cabinet and operable to support said rack in a first position wherein clothes are held in the air stream leaving said by-pass conduit, in a second position elevated from said first position, or in a third position in back of the cabinet.

2. A clothes drier mechanism comprising a cabinet, a drier drum rotatably mounted in said cabinet, conduit means including an inlet portion communicating with the interior of the drum and having a heating means for temperature conditioning a supply of air introduced. into the drum and an exhaust conduit communicating with said drum and extending to a first exhaust opening in said cabinet, a bypass conduit connected to said exhaust conduit prior to said first exhaust opening, said cabinet having an upper control portion having a front face defining a second exhaust opening, said bypass conduit leading to said second exhaust opening, a bracket mounted on the rear of said cabinet, a rod vertically and slidably received in said bracket and defining a pair of axially spaced recesses, a horizontally extending arm for supporting clothes and other fabrics mounted at the upper end of said rod, and a resilient positioning clip having a pointed protuberance selectively receivable in one or the other of said recesses in said rod to permit said rod to move from a raised position to a lowered position or from a' lowered position to a raised position, said arm being effective to support clothes in front of the exhaust opening in said upper control portion of said cabinet in the raised position thereof.

3. A clothes drier mechanism comprising a cabinet, a drier drum rotatably mounted in said cabinet, conduit means including an inlet portion communicating with the interior of the drum and having a heating means for temperature conditioning a supply of air introduced into the drum and an exhaust conduit communicating with said drum, said cabinet having a first exhaust opening connected to said exhaust conduit, a bypass conduit connected to said exhaust conduit prior to said first exhaust opening, said cabinet having an upper control portion having a front face defining a second exhaust opening, said bypass conduit leading to said second exhaust opening in said upper control portion a bracket mounted on the rear of said cabinet, a rod vertically and slidably received in said bracket and defining a pair of axially spaced recesses, a plurality of arms for supporting clothes and other fabrics and pivotally secured to the upper end of said rod in horizontally extending relationship thereto and a resilient positioning clip having a pointed protuberance selectively receivable in one or the other of said recesses in said rod to permit said rod to move from a raised position to a lowered position or from a lowered position to a raised position, said arms being effective to support clothes in front of said second exhaust opening in the raised position thereof.

4. A clothes drier mechanism comprising a cabinet, a. drier drum rotatably mounted in said cabinet, conduit means including an inlet portion communicating with the interior of said drum and having a heating means for temperature conditioning a supply of air introduced into the drum and an exhaust conduit communicating with the drum, said cabinet having a first exhaust opening connected to said exhaust conduit, a bypass conduit connected to said exhaust conduit prior to said first exhaust opening, said cabinet having an upper control portion and a second exhaust opening in the front of said upper control portion, said bypass conduit leading to said second exhaust opening, a first air flow control door pivotally mounted in said bypass conduit, a second air flow control door pivotally mounted in said upper control portion of said cabinet, said first air flow control door being pivotally connected to said second air fiow control door, and manually operable means for selectively moving said first and second air flow control doors from a first position wherein the first air flow control door closes said second exhaust opening to a second position wherein said first air flow control door opens said bypass conduit and said second air flow control door opens said second exhaust opening, said manually operable means including a door control rod slidably extending through a wall portion of the front face of said upper control portion of said cabinet, a shoulder on the inner end of said door rod selectively engageable with said wall portion in its outermost position, an upstanding door control shaft pivotally mounted on a bottom wall portion of said upper control portion of said cabinet, a laterally extending arm fixedly secured to said door control shaft, said laterally extending arm being pivotally secured to said rod, and a laterally and angularly offset rod sccured to said door control shaft and pivotally secured to said first air flow control door whereby movement of said door rod to its outermost position is etfective to move said first and second air flow control doors to said second position and movement of said door rod to its inner position is effective to move said first and second air flow control doors to said first position.

5. A clothes drier mechanism comprising a cabinet, a drier drum rotatably mounted in said cabinet, conduit means including an inlet portion communicating with the interior of said drum and having a heating means for temperature conditioning a supply of air introduced into the drum and an exhaust conduit communicating with the drum, said cabinet having a first exhaust opening connected to said exhaust conduit, a bypass conduit connected to said exhaust conduit prior to said first exhaust opening, said cabinet having an upper control portion and a second exhaust opening in the front of said upper control portion, said bypass conduit leading to said second exhaust opening, a first air flow control door pivotally mounted in said bypass conduit, a second air flow control door pivotally mounted in said upper control portion of said cabinet, said first air flow control door being pivotally connected to said second air flow control door, manually operable means for selectively moving said first and second air flow control doors from a first position wherein the first air flow control door closes said second exhaust opening to a second position wherein said first air fiow control door opens said bypass conduit and said second air flow control door opens said' second exhaust opening, and a clothes drying rack outside said cabinet adapted to support clothes to receive said drying air from said bypass conduit, said clothes drying rack having support means therefor connected to said cabinet.

6. A clothes drier mechanism comprising a rotatable drier drum, air conduit means positioned to conduct a stream of drying air through said drier drum, means for increasing the temperature of said stream of drying air to increase its evaporative action, a cabinet housing for the drier drum and conduit means, said air conduit means exhausting said drying air beyond said cabinet, a bypass conduit connected to said conduit means and opening out of said cabinet into a room to direct a portion of the heated air into the room, an air fiow control means in said bypass conduit operative to control the flow of air through said bypass conduit and a clothes drying rack outside said cabinet adapted to support clothes to receive drying air from said bypass conduit, said clothes drying rack having support means therefor connected to said cabinet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,399,555 Locke Apr. 30, 1946 2,498,478 Balph Feb. 21, 1950 2,740,203 MacDonald Apr. 3, 1956 2,776,826 Bennett et al. Jan. 8, 1957 2,799,948 Morrison July 23, 1957 2,827,276 Racheter Mar. 18, 1958 

